Arizona Songwriters Gathering – 15th Annual!

Congratulations to Jon Iger (devoted and beloved president) and the very, able staff of the Arizona Songwriters Association, on their 15th Annual Arizona Songwriters Gathering. It’s a great event!

John Braheny & I have had the great fortune to participate in almost every one

—– And it’s FREE! —–

Bonus: There will also be a potluck and songwriters guitar pull/song pull right after the Gathering, at the barn of Chuck and Barbara Giamalvo. Directions will be at the Songwriters Gathering.

15th Annual Arizona Songwriters Gathering

Saturday, January 22, 2011

10:00 AM — 4:30 PM

Glendale Public Library (Phoenix, ARIZONA)

5959 West Brown Street(just south of Peoria Ave. on 59th Ave.)

Glendale, Arizona 85302

Admission is FREE! (Did we mention?)

Events will be held in the Auditorium, Meeting Rooms, Outer Lobby & Front Lawn

For more information, call 623-930-3573.

Workshops

NO RULES — JUST TOOLS

10:00 AM — 12:00 PM. AUDITORIUM.

John Braheny, author of The Craft and Business of Songwriting, offers this popular class for writers who started writing by instinct before exploring the principles of manipulating song structure and dynamics for maximum impact. John says, when you follow the principles rather than arbitrary “rules,” you have much greater creative latitude. This is the class for you if you keep getting critiques that say you need better structure or more contrast, or if you need to expand your toolbox of creative options and get more control over what you instinctively know.

Note: John Braheny will be available for one-on-one consult/critique sessions on Sunday, Jan. 23, while he’s in Phoenix. For info on scheduling a session, email john@johnbraheny.com

ARIZONA SONGWRITERS CHALLENGE

10:00 — 11:00 AM. LARGE MEETING ROOM.

Join Chris Frazer for an introduction to the Arizona Songwriters Challenge. In the quarterly songwriters challenge, a song title is given and all the participants write a song using that title having had no more than 30 days to do so. The songwriters gather and present their songs in a public venue giving each other and others in attendance an opportunity to hear the different directions songwriters went with the same title. In this session you will hear music from the event, explanation of the process, and information about this local opportunity and exercise for songwriters.

USING INTERNET & SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC

11:00 AM — 12:00 PM. LARGE MEETING ROOM.

Join moderator Rhonda Hitchcock for this roundtable discussion. After some opening remarks, we’ll open it up to anyone with stories, good or bad, about their experiences using the Internet and Social Media to promote their music. Everyone should learn something at this workshop, including what works and what doesn’t! All interested musicians, bands and songwriters, please join us to share your experience!

IS THERE GOLD IN YOUR CLOSET? HOW TO PERPETUATE YOUR ARTISTIC LEGACY

12:45 — 2:00 PM. AUDITORIUM.

Believe it or not, there may be a gold mine in your closet. Did you write and record music prior to 1989? Are your recordings collecting dust in an attic or closet? Join David Hilker and Jeff Freundlich of Wild Whirled Music as they discuss music for film and television, and the earnings power of those forgotten tapes. Any genre. Any era. The gold mine is there. Are you ready to tap it?

COPYRIGHT LAW AND THE REAL WORLD: HOW TO AVOID DISPUTES OVER OWNERSHIP

2:15 — 3:30 PM. AUDITORIUM.

James Marovich and Les Scott will present some real world situations to show how Copyright Law protects artists and how, sometimes, it does not. They will discuss how to protect your work, who owns a copyright and how ownership comes into being, how to prevent disputes over ownership, and the importance of talking in advance with co-writers and band members about collaboration agreements. Time permitting, we will go online and actually register a copyright with the Library of Congress.

Note: *At 2:00 PM in the Outer Lobby Cafe area, a special presentation of the Lottie Lederer Songwriter Spirit Award will be given to Paul Woodall. Paul has been a long time member of the Arizona Songwriters Association and a participant in the Arizona Songwriters Gathering since its inception. He has been writing and performing his original songs for eons, and at age 93 is still singing his songs and entertaining appreciative crowds. Paul is also an actor who has performed in several community theater productions, and is currently writing a book!

Performances

CONCERT: MARSHALL TRIMBLE AND RON KEEL

3:45 — 4:30 PM

AUDITORIUM

THE BALLAD TREE: INFORMAL SINGING AND SHARING

11:00 AM — 12:30 PM

LAWN AREA IN FRONT OF LIBRARY

Hosted by Tom Whitlock and Steve Decker

THE BALLAD TREE: INFORMAL SINGING AND SHARING

12:30 PM — 2:00 PM

LAWN AREA IN FRONT OF LIBRARY

Hosted by Dean Cook and Virginia Anders

THE BALLAD TREE: INSPIRATION IN SONGWRITING

2:00 PM — 3:00 PM

LAWN AREA IN FRONT OF LIBRARY

A roundtable discussion on creativity hosted by Andy Hurlbut , Mark Fogelson and Anne James

Songwriters/musicians have already signed up to play ‘live’ every ten minutes in various locations around the venue!

The Arizona Songwriters Gathering was organized by Lon Austin, Jon Iger and Gavan Wieser of the Arizona Songwriters Association and hosted by the Glendale Public Library. (Phoenix area)

Bios:

JOHN BRAHENY is a top consultant/coach for songwriters, writer/artists and music industry entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. His book, “The Craft and Business of Songwriting” has sold over 80,000 copies and is used as a songwriting text in colleges and universities throughout the U.S. He and Len Chandler founded and ran the legendary Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase for 25 years. He is past president of California Copyright Conference, a teacher and journalist and is a consultant and screener for TAXI, the world’s leading independent A&R company. He’s also interviewed more than 600 hit songwriters and industry pros.

CHRIS FRAZER is a musician from Chandler, Arizona who is a singer and songwriter, open mic host, and middle school music teacher. He is the founder of azopenmic.com, a website providing information about the local open mic scene since 2002. Chris also runs a quarterly event called the Arizona Songwriters Challenge that has had participation by many Arizona songwriters.

DAVID HILKER (CEO) and JEFF FREUNDLICH (President) own Whirled Music Publishing, Inc. (WMP) The company’s brands include the music catalogs of Wild Whirled Music, Trailerville Music, indie label Fervor Records and indie artist catalog Muzik Headz.
WMP is a premier destination for the film, television and advertising industries. The company’s music is heard daily across all media platforms. The catalog includes performances from such luminaries as Waylon Jennings, Wayne Newton, Bill Champlin, Al Kooper, Duane Eddy and Albert Lee to name a few.

RHONDA HITCHCOCK has been in graphic design, marketing and advertising for over 15 years. She is also the co-founder of Chicks with Picks, an organization that features female singer/songwriters. Ms. Hitchcock has helped all kinds of businesses and musicians promote on some level, but she has recently seen a real movement in promotion with Social Media.

RON KEEL has enjoyed success as a songwriter, musician and entertainer in both hard rock and country music for nearly three decades. With over 50 album credits as artist, producer and writer, he is currently touring the world with his band KEEL, as well as headlining in Las Vegas as the star of “Country Superstars Tribute.”

He is signed to Frontiers Records and Universal Music, and has contributed songs to major TV shows such as Desperate Housewives, X-Files, The Simpsons, and films like Men in Black II, ChillFactor, The Messengers and more. His songs have been recorded by Jesse & Noah Bellamy (Luna Chica International), Vixen (EMI), and Charlie Tatman (CMG).

JAMES M. MAROVICH is a litigation and transactional attorney. His intellectual property practice consists of copyright, trademarks and trade names, and rights to privacy. He provides legal services for singers, songwriters, musicians, bands, artists, actors, authors and photographers, as well as to independent film companies, publicists, physicians, medical spas, theatre companies, talent management, and record sales and distribution services companies. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards, is a frequent speaker for artists’ organizations, and is currently serving as general counsel for the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. He provides legal services to start-up companies, which includes assisting with choice of entity, agreements between persons desiring to do business together, organization of corporations and companies, ownership and licensing of intellectual property, risk assessment, end of business life decisions, helping clients to avoid disputes and, if necessary, to resolve disputes, and negotiating contracts and business deals.

LES SCOTT is a veteran of the music industry whose publishing company Source Q Boutique(SQB) specializes in music placement in film & television. Celebrating its 15th year, SQB currently represents over 550 writers/artists and is exclusively marketed through its alliances with Crucial Music Group, Fuze Artz and Expressive Artists.

As a Record Producer and Songwriter, Les is commissioned to produce albums for such companies as BMG, FirstCom, Killer Tracks, Universal Music Group and Network, and has produced over 200 artists/bands in all genres. His writings appear almost daily throughout the film/TV industry and have appeared on various albums (Grammy winning group “b2k”).

As a consultant, Mr. Scott is frequently hired to advise on intellectual property and other legal matters such as band agreements, record contracts, writer collaborations, performance releases, cue sheets and other custom agreements.

MARSHALL TRIMBLE is considered the “dean of Arizona historians” and has taught Arizona history at Scottsdale Community College for more than 35 years. His first book was published in 1977 by Doubleday & Company, New York. Since then he’s written more than twenty books on Arizona and the West. Trimble is one of the state’s most popular speakers and performers. He is an educator, lecturer, folk singer and stage performer.

This multi-talented historian has been called the “Will Rogers of Arizona.” He can deliver anything from a serious history lecture to a stage concert of Western folk music and stories with his guitar. Trimble appears frequently on radio and television as a goodwill ambassador for the state. Special note:On February 13, 2010,Marshall Trimble will be inducted into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (AMEHOF), along with 11 others. Tickets are available by calling the Phoenix Convention Center (Orpheum Theatre) at 602-262-7272 or through ticketmaster.com, 1-800-745-3000. More information at www.amehof.org . Don’t miss this chance to support the preservation of Arizona’s musical history!“Inspiring the Future by Remembering the Past”.